"Amasawa Ichika... more than your existence, the one I’m curious about is that male student, Ayanokōji Kiyotaka."

"Wha... Kiyotaka-senpai... you mean him?"

Our discussion? kept going, and just as I reached for my third melon bread... Morishita-senpai suddenly started talking about what seemed to be the main topic.

"Ayanokōji Kiyotaka... at first, I thought he was just an ordinary gloomy boy you could find anywhere... average academic ability and physical ability, always unmotivated and expressionless."

"Hee~ I see..."

Hey now~ Morishita-senpai? You probably don’t mean anything bad by it... but could you not talk badly about Kiyotaka-senpai~?

If this were the original Ichika-chan... you might’ve already been beaten to a pulp by now, you know?

"However... that evaluation was overturned during the Partner Written Exam held in April."

"Is that because Kiyotaka-senpai scored 100 on the math test?"

"Yes, within that math subject... there were even problems at a university level. I simply cannot believe that Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, who has academic ability C, could solve them."

Well yeah, Kiyotaka-senpai normally... intentionally lowers his test scores, so from a third party’s perspective, it wouldn’t be strange at all to suspect cheating from this result.

"But? Why tell me about that? Wouldn’t it be faster to just ask Kiyotaka-senpai himself~?"

"I judged that it would be more efficient to hear it from Amasawa Ichika, who seems to be from the same middle school as him, rather than asking Ayanokōji Kiyotaka directly."

No no! How exactly is that more efficient... Ichika-chan really doesn’t get it~?

"Wait, do I... look like a loose-lipped girl to you? You think I’d just casually share Kiyotaka-senpai’s personal information with someone else?"

"You ate the melon bread I brought, didn’t you? So I would like you to spill it..."

"Haa!? That melon bread was for that purpose?"

"...That was a joke, of course. I was thinking earlier, but Amasawa Ichika... even though your atmosphere resembles Ayanokōji Kiyotaka, you’re quite rich emotionally. ...I could tell at a glance that you have romantic feelings for Ayanokōji Kiyotaka."

"So it was a joke~! Thank go... that’s not good! Um, please don’t say embarrassing things like that with a straight face!"

Of all people, for this eccentric person to notice... this is a bad development...

Because if this ends up reaching Sakayanagi Arisu-senpai from the same class through Morishita-senpai, and since Sakayanagi-senpai also has at least some affection for Kiyotaka-senpai... there’s a possibility she’ll interfere with my actions in some way...

"To be precise... if someone like me, who normally doesn’t interact with people from other classes, suddenly gets involved with Ayanokōji Kiyotaka from Class D of the same year, it would be obvious that Sakayanagi Arisu, the leader of our class, would grow suspicious. However... if the one I make contact with is a junior like Amasawa Ichika, I judged that concern would be somewhat reduced. Well... if it’s someone from the same year competing for Class A then that’s one thing, but if it’s a junior... it might not seem that suspicious... like, maybe they just have an acquaintance among this year’s first years? It could be brushed off at that level..."

She must’ve thought it through in her own way, but even if the person she contacted was a junior, people who are suspicious will still be suspicious, right? I can’t help but wonder why that idea didn’t occur to her.

"I can’t quite put it into words... but Amasawa Ichika and Ayanokōji Kiyotaka seem to share something similar. It doesn’t feel like something that can be explained simply as being senior and junior from the same middle school."

"Even if you say that~! That’s the only truth, so it can’t be helped, right?"

"Amasawa Ichika... I can see a slight hint of impatience from you. Are you lying right now?"

"It must be your imagination! Grr..."

Morishita-senpai... as expected of someone who digs for information, you’re unexpectedly sharp in some areas.

...No! In this case, it might also be because Ichika-chan isn’t in top condition. My head was basically empty from the excitement of my date with Kiyotaka-senpai...

Well, it can’t be helped that she wouldn’t arrive at the idea of a facility like the White Room... to begin with, it’s doubtful whether ordinary people are even aware of its existence.

But... even setting that aside, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to revise my evaluation of Morishita-senpai slightly upward...

"Well... in consideration of that melon bread, I’ll tell you just a little."

No matter what... I absolutely won’t admit that Ichika-chan also made some mistakes from having her pace thrown off by Morishita-senpai... it’s the bare minimum of pride.

"If I was called the masterpiece of a certain place, then the person named Ayanokōji Kiyotaka goes even beyond that... he was called the ultimate masterpiece... that’s what it means."

"Ayanokōji Kiyotaka... the ultimate masterpiece..."

Without revealing the existence of the White Room itself, I explained things to Morishita-senpai.

Then, Morishita-senpai showed an expression as if she was deep in thought...

'Umm... going any further with this information would be risky...'

If I’m not careful, it could end up causing dissatisfaction from Kiyotaka-senpai for selling his past without permission.

"Um, Morishita-senpai? I won’t say anything more... from now on~ I recommend you don’t pry into the past between me and Kiyotaka-senpai..."

When I released an intimidating pressure reminiscent of my White Room days, Morishita-senpai looked at me and fell silent. The fact that she didn’t change her expression even in this situation is honestly admirable.

She’s probably scared on the inside... maybe she’ll just go home like this~?

"...No, I’ve gained something from this... I’ll be heading home now."

"Eh?"

As soon as she said that, Morishita-senpai started walking toward the entrance. Her reaction was so different from what I expected that I was the one left dumbfounded.

"We were talking so much though? Why are you leaving so easily?"

"It’s gotten late, so I felt like going home."

"What is that supposed to mean!?"

"Well then, goodbye."

With that, Morishita-senpai left my room, and after dragging me into that whole conversation... don’t just end it on your own terms~! I complained in my head.

What was that time even for?

‘Ahh... she was such a tiring senpai to talk to... for now, I’ll just eat the leftover melon bread and cheer myself up…’

After that, I stress-ate too much melon bread... and just as expected, I couldn’t eat dinner.